Women's Basketball

Bears Gain Further Ground In Race For Ivy Title

Providence, RI -
On the strength of 24 points and ten rebounds by senior Sarah Hayes, the Brown women's basketball team continued its assault on the Ivy League with a 69-48 win over Columbia on Friday night at the Pizzitola Center. The Bears victory tonight, coupled with Dartmouth's loss to Princeton, moves Brown to a game and a half lead over the Big Green and Tigers. Hayes fell just one-point shy of reaching her career-high as she tallied her third straight double-double. Brown is now 16-8 overall and 10-1 in the Ivy League.

After a sluggish start, the Bears were able to open up an eight point lead by the half, 28-20. Brown used a 17-3 drive to take a 28-14 lead by the 1:59 mark. Hayes led all players with 12 points in the half off 6-9 shooting. She also added five rebounds as the Bears out-rebounded the Lions by a 25-14 margin. Columbia went just 6 for 23 from the field for 26% while Brown hit 12 of 32 attempts for 37.5%.

Similar to its performance at Columbia two weeks ago, Brown broke open the game in the second half, outscoring the Lions 22-11 to take a 19 point lead by the 11:43 mark. Senior Colleen Kelly knocked down a pair of three's while Hayes registered six points during the span.

With most of Brown's starters on the bench, Columbia rallied back to cut the lead to 10, 55-44, with 7:41 left but that was as close as they would get as the Bears pushed the lead even higher then before. Freshman Megan McCahill gave Brown its biggest lead of the night, 69-46, with 1:13 left.

Brown dominated the boards 48-28 on the night and out shot Columbia 44.8% to 31.3%. Kelly chipped in with ten points, six rebounds and four assists while junior Lena McAfee had another strong effort, finishing with five points and seven rebounds. Senior Jackie Vocell tallied seven points off the bench along with four boards.

Brown will play its final home game of the season tomorrow night against Cornell. A win would give the Bears their first undefeated Ivy home season since 1983-84. Prior to the game, the Class of 2006 will be honored for their contributions to the team since coming to Brown in 2002.